carry me home tonight
by captain of the seven seas
Summary: "If it wasn't for the fact my mouth still tastes like beer barf, I probably would've kissed you by now." A drunk Piper stumbles into a sleep-deprived Leo. -au-


dedicated to: Rick Riordan. For the love of God, Rick, make an unexpected pairing for once.  
a/n: I hate boring pairings. :/  
disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Piper McLean stumbles drunkedly across the grass, her blonde hair swinging from her actions and the smooth blow of the night air. It's nearly midnight, but she doesn't plan on sleeping tonight.

She stumbles her way across her father's gigantic lawn, her eyes reflecting flashes of colors. People always told her how pretty her kaleidoscope eyes are, and because of her five beers and a _lot _of emotional depression, she feels like she's looking through one. Her feet almost slip in the grass and her mouth slurs out dozens of curse words for the idiot gardener who chooses to water the plants at night. Who does that? She questions, but since there's no one to answer and she's too drunk to answer it herself, she simply ignores it and continues her drunk walk towards the guest house.

Once there, she rudely shoves her fist at the door-bell, resulting in a near destruction of the small blue button. No one answers, so she raps the door instead. It opens half a minute later, and a sleep-deprived Leo Valdez comes to view.

"Piper?" He shields his eyes in an effort to get them used to the dim light of the house. "What are you doing here? Wait," he leans in closer and smells her. "Are you drunk, Pipes?"

Piper ignores him and their eyes stare at each other (kaleidoscopes on brown) before Piper opens her mouth and spews out beer. Leo jumps away from the mess.

"Shit, Piper! What the hell?" He gets around the puke and shakes her. Piper seems to be shaking, so he dodges the puke, brings out a fleece blanket and wraps it around her fragile shoulders before setting her down on one of the porch swings the guesthouse had.

"Hey, beauty queen. What's wrong?" He speaks softer now, and wisely uses her childhood nickname to coax her to speak. Piper manages a weak smile.

"I saw Reyna and Jason today." She hiccups and Leo stares at her, his eyebrows furrowed.

"We see them everyday, Piper. What's so special about today that you just had to go all ape-shit drunk?" He asks her exasperatedly and Piper, not expecting this sort of reply, laughs in a sarcastic, incredulous manner.

"Seriously?" She asks, so dumbfounded that Leo could be _this _dense. Leo shrugged his shoulders and Piper huffed. "For the love of God, Leo, I saw them kissing! Is that not a good reason to get drunk?" She screams at him, then her shoulders drop. She drops her head and cries softly, tears pouring out of her eyes. "I saw them near the pool. They way they kissed," her voice broke and so did Leo's heart for that matter, "the way they kissed looked like they've been doing it for years, Leo. It hurts so much."

Leo hugs her awkwardly then tries to console her. "Come on, beauty queen. You're beautiful and smart and cool, nothing like that uptight Reyna. She's a loser!" He lifts her head by her chin and stares in her eyes. They don't seem so kaleidoscopic now though; they seem to be blue and Leo feels like he's staring at Piper and getting through her. "You on the other hand, you're perfect Pipes. Fucking perfect. If Jason doesn't see that, well, it's his loss."

Piper blushes and Leo thinks that even if she's ape-shit drunk with blood-shot eyes and white lips, Piper McLean was still beautiful beyond belief. "Really?"

"Yeah. Really." And they stare wordlessly, each trying to contemplate their next move. Piper breaks the silence and laughs.

"You know, this is really romantic and if it wasn't for the fact my mouth still tastes like beer barf, I probably would've kissed you by now," she manages to grin and Leo grins back. He laughs too, and the situation is so damn pathetic. Two people, armed with sweet words and a cliche situation, nearly have their fairy tale moment, but are stopped by what? Puke?

"Yeah. I was kinda thinking the same thing." He shrugs and they burst out laughing once more. Finally they stop and Leo speaks out. "You know Piper, as much as I'd really love to kiss you right now, you're drunk, I'm sleep-deprived and your mouth smells like beer shit. Maybe we can resume this thing after a good night sleep, a pill of aspirin and a swish of Listerine?"

Piper grins and squeezes his scarred hand. "I'd love that." She gets up only to wobble uncertainly and fall back on the swing. Leo looks at her concernedly.

"Hey Pipes?" He nudges her and she looks up. "I have a feeling you won't make it twenty yards form this house if you walked like that."

Piper gives him a look of surrender. "I know." Silence settles and they are enveloped in a comfortable nest of silence and darkness. Leo's eyes absentmindedly closes with Piper on his chest. He nearly drifts off before Piper speaks up.

"Hey Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Carry me home tonight?"

"I'd love to Piper."


End file.
